Library Data used to be one of my favourite parts of
Traveller systems of yore. Ask some old
timers what a library is… This little tool was created in the
pre-Internet days of gaming. Essentially, it was a short encyclopaedic
capsule of information that may be helpful or not for the players. It
was also there to provide information for the Referee to add local
colour and flavour. Furthermore, it was authoritative and concise –
unlike Call of Cthulhu’s Library Use roll
– it was meant to give you a snapshot of information not realms of
documentation to wade through. Player-characters could access it on
their shipboard computers (assuming they paid the berthing fees) or go
to a public access terminal, drop down a few credits to tap into the
planetary information net and it would allow these little gems to spill
forth. The whole concept reflected a time when information was scarce
and often contained in silos accessed by seasoned professionals. Those
were the days…<sigh>

In the good old Classic Traveller days,
it took on two forms. It was usually published at the back of adventures
and also came in the form of two little black books (Supplement 8 and
Supplement 11). MegaTraveller updated the
little black books and created something called the
Imperial Encyclopedia which neatly had a
player’s section and a referee’s section (which explained some of the
biases and misdirection/red herrings contained in the players’ section).
Subsequent editions merely incorporated library data as part of the
story line in either supplements or books, save
GURPS Traveller which incorporated the old
Imperial Encyclopedia into the main rulebook. Now, Mongoose has
come around and released a little black book of their own.

With so many versions of Traveller
floating around, it would have perhaps more sensible to release a
writer’s bible to the Third Imperium or something like it (indeed the
compiler of this very volume suggested just that but got turned down at
this time by Mongoose). OK then, no writer’s bible… Then let’s have a
compilation of all sorts of library data from all that readily exists
out there in the Traveller verse? Too many
copyright entanglements? So, what are we left with…? A very small
compact version of the original two Classic
Traveller supplements designed for the
Traveller “newby” with some things from Mongoose thrown in for
good measure.

Grognards might find this objectionable to pay for something already
“out there”. I know, I did at first. But, we have to remember this is
not meant for us. We already have either in our collections vast library
data books or have committed vast tracts of what has already been
published to memory. So get over it. If you were a starting referee,
would you like to lug around several weighty tomes to find an obscure
reference to a planet that has working toasters from Antiquity or would
you want a single volume to accompany your pocket
Traveller rules… Even as a grognard, I would have to side with
the latter over the former. So I view this as a sort of appendix to the
pocket Traveller rulebook that would be to
fill in some of the details of the Third Imperium campaign setting.

Why in this era of ubiquitous cloud computing, would such a thing be
necessary for Traveller characters? Well,
not all worlds are high tech in Traveller
therefore like all good stories it might require some legwork to get
that information to complete the puzzle or mystery around which the
adventure is based. Just as it is now, information increasingly becoming
a commodity, there is no reason to believe in the Far Far Future this
trend will be abated and having all these things readily available
rather defeats the purpose of adventuring. Also, who is to say the
information on one planetary grid matches another – a Referee can use
this book as a baseline to further create rumours, story hooks and news
nuggets.

Well, what are its drawbacks? Its length: I was hoping for a much
larger book when I heard Library Data;
something that would do some more culling from other sources – one way
around the copyright issue would have been to make a direct imprint of
Far Future Enterprises (which holds all the
Traveller copyrights) tweak them a little but still have
everything in one booklet. In some ways, it is also a supplement that
could afford to wait (unless good folks at Mongoose do plan to release
an Imperial Encyclopedia at a later date)
– as despite the Mongoose rules being out some time – there is little
that has been not much written for the Original/Official
Traveller Universe (OTU). With a mere 380
entries (roughly) and a write-up on the Emperors and timeline, it does
seem to be on the small side considering the game has been around for
nearly 40 years… So my description of it being an appendix seems
particularly apt.

There is also a general lack of art in the volume. What art there is
contained within is phenomenal and really captures that dirty realism
that Traveller is famous for nevertheless
one thing that all versions of Library Data
in the past contained was art that had you wanting more – for instance,
in the Classic Traveller – it was the
Vegans – one of the more alien species that I long wished to see in
Alien Module but it never made it (hint, hint Mongoose).

Also, what of causalities on the editing floor? Are they official or
have they been unceremoniously removed from the
Traveller canon? As this volume does not contain any introduction
or rationale behind the selection, merely the encyclopaedic entries
leaving the reader wondering – what happened to the other entries from
previous volumes? Maybe, I am thinking about this too much like a
grognard… Here’s hoping that behind the scenes Mongoose is working on a
Third Imperium sourcebook (another strong hint to Mongoose) that will
overlay on top this one finely giving further chrome to the grand old
setting. For if the main polity (the Third Imperium) in
Traveller has over 11,000 worlds and there
are neighbouring polities that have similar numbers plus huge tracts of
unmapped space – there can never be One Book to Rule Them All but it
would be nice to get more chrome that captures that vibe.

So, if you are a grognard who has indeed committed all previous
Library Data to memory – this book is probably not for you. But, if you
a newbie Referee that wants a quick and dirty guide to the Third
Imperium Campaign – then I don’t think you can go wrong in purchasing
this volume.